Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Ethics and Objects

"Animal, Mineral, Vegetable: Ethics and Objects" examines what happens when we cease to assume that only humans exert agency. Through a careful examination of medieval, early modern and contemporary lifeworlds, these essays collectively argue against ecological anthropocentricity. Sheep, wolves, camels, flowers, chairs, magnets, landscapes, refuse and gems are more than mere objects. They act; they withdraw; they make demands; they connect within lively networks that might foster a new humanism, or that might proceed with indifference towards human affairs. Through what ethics do we respond to these activities and forces? To what futures do these creatures and objects invite us, especially when they appear within the texts and cultures of the €œdistant€ past? TABLE OF CONTENTS: Jeffrey J. Cohen: €œIntroduction: All Things€ €“ Karl Steel: €œWith the World, or Bound to Face the Sky: The Postures of the Wolf-Child of Hesse€ €“ Sharon Kinoshita: €œAnimals and the Medieval Culture of Empire€ €“ Kellie Robertson: €œExemplary Rocks€ €“ Valerie Allen: €œMineral Virtue€ €“ Peggy McCracken (University of Michigan): €œThe Human and the Floral€ €“ Eileen Joy: €œYou Are Here: A Manifesto€ €“ Julian Yates: €œSheep Tracks: A Multi-Species Impression€ €“ Julia Reinhard Lupton: €œThe Renaissance Res Publica of Things€ €“ Jane Bennett: €œPowers of the Hoard: Notes on Material Agency€ Response Essays: Lowell Duckert, €œSpeaking Stones, John Muir, and A Slower (Non)humanities€ €“ Nedda Mehdizadeh, €œRuinous Monument: Transporting Objects in Herbert€s Persepolis€ €“ Jonathan Gil Harris, €œAnimal, Vegetable, Mineral: Twenty Questions€